The Slavs (Niklot)/Civilopedia
The Slavs Following the collapse of the Roman Empire, a much larger gap opened up in the eastern wilderness of Europe where imperial presence was no longer seen. Out of this came several people - though perhaps most prominently, the Slavs, who continue to inhabit the land in eastern Europe to this day, a firmly established cultural group. However, for years, Slavic society was a tribal-based culture, rather than the nation-states we see today. They existed like this for centuries, and probably before their history was even recorded, though the tribal communities dispersed into kingdoms over time, dying out for good around the 14th century. The Slavs were a pagan people in these early days, and before the advent of Christianity and the Cyrillic script they had no means of recording anything, hence why a lot of their history is lost. However, a lot of western European records remain, so we still have insight into what Slavic society was like before states such as Poland and Russia. Niklot Following the collapse of the Roman Empire, a much larger gap opened up in the eastern wilderness of Europe where imperial presence was no longer seen. Out of this came several people - though perhaps most prominently, the Slavs, who continue to inhabit the land in eastern Europe to this day, a firmly established cultural group. However, for years, Slavic society was a tribal-based culture, rather than the nation-states we see today. They existed like this for centuries, and probably before their history was even recorded, though the tribal communities dispersed into kingdoms over time, dying out for good around the 14th century. The Slavs were a pagan people in these early days, and before the advent of Christianity and the Cyrillic script they had no means of recording anything, hence why a lot of their history is lost. However, a lot of western European records remain, so we still have insight into what Slavic society was like before states such as Poland and Russia. Unique Components 'Voi' The Voy, or Voyi (the plural version), was an ancient Slavic militia that was based mainly in the Kievan Rus’, as the draft recruitment of the local populace. However, the term, or a variation on it, is used across the Slavic world to describe an army of sorts, mostly irregulars. The more widely-used term Voivode is almost an equivalent for general - the term “voi” here is loosely translated as “army”, and with the word “vode” being the verb “to lead”, it becomes all too obvious who’s in control. Militaries such as these had a fearsome reputation, given the term was used well before the Slavs calmed their military action at the end of the pagan kingdoms. The term was applied during the many wars they had with the Christian kingdoms, especially to the Wends. The only military better in the Rus’ was the druzina, the standing army of the state. Together, they composed most of its military, making the presumably larger Voi a vital part of Slavic military history. 'Opole' In many Slavic kingdoms, most notably the Kingdom of Poland, the Opole was the name given to the system of land distribution. A specific Opole would be named after the largest settlement in the region; for example, an the Opole in modern-day Lesser Poland would be known as Krakow Opole. Prior to the Kingdom of Poland, the Opole system was used among Slavic tribes as a way of dividing their lands; this worked so well that it grew into the basis for later Slavic states. Within an Opole, the system set up a community within the land. Members of an Opole were required to pay tax to it, which was often refered to in itself as 'opole'. In their early days, Opoles were primarily tribal, so as they evolved, they became more population-based, with regions being created on basis of population density, so the land area varied from Opole to Opole. By the 15th century, the Opole system was on its way out, to be replaced by more feudal systems of government. Category:Civilopedia Entries